


Who's That Girl?

by Mai_Blade



Category: Eyeshield 21
Genre: Childhood Friends, Do Not Post on Another Website, Don't copy to another site, Explicit Language, F/M, Songfic without lyrics, Teen Angst, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, because Hiruma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 09:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20273932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mai_Blade/pseuds/Mai_Blade
Summary: She came out of nowhere and she's in your way!





	Who's That Girl?

**That first love. And the first one who breaks your heart. For me, they just happen to be the same person.**

**~ Sarah Dessen, Along for the Ride **

* * *

You ran after Hiruma as he led the way, having fetched you one last time before tomorrow when everything would change, at least for you. 

“Yoichi-kun! You’re going too fast!”

“You’re too damn slow,” he called back, slowing down a notch. His dark hair ruffled as he ran and he kept chewing his gum. He blew a bubble and glared at you. “Why do you follow me around?”

“Same reason you wait for me,” you teased. 

This resulted in being left a whole block behind him.

“Sorry,” you gasped, finally catching up. He glanced at you, annoyed. You clutched at a stitch in your side and you looked around, “W-why’d you drag me out so late at night?”

Hiruma snorted, “Drag? You came along willingly!” He pointed a finger at the sky over the river, “Look.”

You looked. Nothing happened. You glanced at Hiruma, perplexed. 

“Che, you’re not fucking looking!”

“You swear too much,” you pouted.

“You’re still not fucking looking!”

“All right, all right, I’m looking,” you said, looking at the sky over the river. You frowned, “And what am I looking for–!”

You yelped and hid behind Hiruma as fireworks suddenly exploded over the river. Hiruma smirked at you, “What, scared?”

“_No_,” you lied, still clutching his shirt. You smiled at the fireworks. “Wow…”

“Happy fucking birthday,” Hiruma said, staring up at the fireworks. 

You held his hand and smiled at him, trying to not cry. “Thanks, Yoichi-kun. But… it’s not my birthday.”

“You won’t be here then, ne?” Hiruma reminded you. 

“Yeah,” you said sadly, staring at the fireworks. You were moving away and leaving Hiruma behind. “Don’t forget me, okay?”

“Who could forget a fucking annoying brat like you?” He asked, digging a finger into his ear, scowling.

Ever since your teacher announced to the class that you would be moving away, your best friend had been angrier than usual, even sometimes avoiding you. Asking if he would miss you had garnered you only scorn, but on this last night before you went away, he let you hold his hand the whole way home, for the first and last time.

* * *

That memory played over in your head as you watched _them_ interact. 

After so many years, your family had moved back and you were attending Deimon, the same school as Hiruma. It had been years since you’d seen each other and it was sort of awkward because neither of you were the children who had held hands on the way home in the dark. He was distant towards you, despite how happy you were to see him.

(_he recognized her within ten seconds even though she’d changed, grown, but she was a stranger again, though she quickly proved to be not one he’d use—she was still the same brat who’d said they were friends and meant it_)__

‘Them’ happened to be him and her, that _girl_. Who the hell was she? Why was she around him so much? They didn’t seem to get along well, but then again, they seemed to get along pretty well. You’ve seen this story play out in manga, anime and novels. These two…

Hiruma’s behavior as a child had only worsened, multiplied. Truthfully, you wouldn’t have him any other way, but he was missing something. He was missing that desire to have you around for company. It appeared that he hadn’t had many friends after you had left and had only recently made some. They were in the American Football Club together. 

And that girl was there too.

You scowled, glaring at down at her. He said she was the ‘fucking manager’, Anezaki Mamori. He had answered your question quickly. A little too quickly…

You turned away from the window as they parted ways down below. 

You’d been gone too long.

* * *

Anezaki was always around him. She was the manager and he was the captain. It was only natural they’d spend a lot of time together. They argued a lot, but they got along just the same. Maybe it was only your jealousy but they seemed close.

As close as he and you had been as children, if not more, and it drove you up the wall. Who the hell was she to come along and… understand him? Who was she to come along and put up with him, get along with him, talk to him, work with him, support him?

Who the hell was she?

* * *

At first Hiruma had seemed the same, if just more extreme. He was chasing a dream and he was putting his all into it. You liked watching him, always had. But then you would look again and sometimes, sometimes… his eyes would look at her.

She was a good person, you knew that, had first-hand experience of it. You hated to admit it, but she was kind. She was surprised to hear you had known Hiruma as children but she didn’t make a huge fuss out of it (unlike the other members of the club). She was smart, too. Beautiful, intelligent, kind… she was everything you wanted to be.

She was there by his side when you weren’t. She now knew more about him than you did.

You knew you’d lose him if you didn’t fight for him, but she refused to accept your view of things.

“I’m just the manager,” she insisted firmly. 

You scowled at her. “Not the way I see it.” You glared to the side, “So you’d deny me even the right to fight for the person I like. I guess you’re not all nice…”

(_Mamori stared after her, concerned. She had upset her, right? She sighed, continuing her sweeping. But still, there was no reason to fight. She was just the manager._)

* * *

You stared down at the river below the bridge, depressed. Hiruma was so far away and Mamori stood in your way. Worse, she didn’t even think she was which meant she must like him too, deep down. Hiruma wasn’t the kid who had needed someone to stand beside him while his father gave up on his dreams and fell. No, he was someone stronger with a lot more friends with him to chase after the same dream.

Hiruma didn’t need a single person anymore. He didn’t need _you_ anymore.

“I know it’s selfish of me to wish he did, but I’m only human.”

You tossed down a pebble and distorted your already blurry reflection.

* * *

You had been childhood friends. You had been separated as children. You weren’t children anymore when you were finally reunited. 

He was distant and awkward. Of course, in his awkwardness he was loud and used firearms a lot, but that was a cover for it. Hiruma felt uncomfortable around you (_the first, the one who went away, the one who came back smiling like she hadn’t left at all_). He didn’t like feeling that way, so he stayed away.

You followed him and talked to him. It didn’t seem to go as far as it had when you were kids. Often, sitting in the stands while he played a football match with his teammates against another team, you stared at him and wondered what it would have been like if you hadn’t gone away.

Maybe you’d still be as close as you had been back then.

* * *

_“Yoichi-kun,” you called, running up to him._

_Hiruma turned to you, his dark hair sticking up as usual. He blew a bubble as he waited for you to catch up to him. When you caught up he started walking again, heading nowhere. You tagged along, knowing that somehow you’d both end up somewhere._

_Another time you got mad at him and wouldn’t talk to him for a week. He swore too much and you couldn’t stand it anymore. You were just a kid for heaven’s sake. Why should you have to listen to that kind of trash so soon? He didn’t come around for a long time but he did, eventually, in the night as he usually did when he went to you._

_He knocked softly at your window and you opened it. He jumped down from the window sill softly. He stood there, not looking at you. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes, annoyed. Why did he come all this way if he wasn’t going to say anything? You had been sleeping and having a nice dream too._

_“Yoichi-kun,” you asked, managing to convey your annoyance even in your sleepiness._

_He finally lifted his eyes, fierce and narrowed. You slowly blinked and wondered why he was looking at you like that._

_“One chance,” he hissed, hands clenched at his sides. He lifted a hand and held it out._

_You tensed, knowing that this must be important. You hadn’t been talking to him and yet here he was in the middle of the night despite being just a kid. _

_“Are you my friend or not?”_

_He kept glaring at you and you realized that he hadn’t done anything else either since you yelled at him for swearing so much. He had ignored you just as much as you had ignored him, but here he was. _

_Your stomach churned as your thoughts raced, confused. But, despite that, a thought came to the front and you pictured yourself in the future (tomorrow, the next day, the next week, next month, growing up) as not being his friend. No! No, you don’t want that!_

_You grabbed his hand with both of yours and glared right back at him, tears welling up as you tried to hold them back._

_He smirked._

_“Fucking crybaby.”_

_You pouted and wiped your face with one hand but kept hold of his with the other._

_“Pointy-eared jerk.”_

_Later, at another time you both ran along the river. You chased after him, calling his name in anger and throwing stuff at him. He had put a fake spider in your backpack, scaring the living daylights out of you. When you caught him you were going to…_

_“I’m gonna kiss you when I catch you!” you yelled after him._

_He ran faster and got further away._

* * *

In the end, Anezaki won. 

They had gone through so much together, achieved the dream of winning the Christmas Bowl, and they went to the same college. It was almost inevitable that they’d go out and become a couple. 

Somewhere along the way, you had realized you were fighting a losing battle. Hiruma had been your friend, would be your friend, but that’s all he’d ever be to you.

“At least it’s something,” you murmured to yourself, leaning your forehead against the window as the train sped by the city. Tears came to your eyes and wavered there. 

“But it could have been more…”

* * *

**Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell. **

**~ Edna St. Vincent Millay**

**Author's Note:**

> I had the biggest crush on Hiruma once. xD


End file.
